Christmas is coming

I have been taking part in a monthly card swap with fellow demonstrators on the In Love With Stamping (ILWS) web-site but this past month I also took part in a Christmas card swap.

I have to wonder sometimes if I am really mad as for some reason I always go for the harder option – this time I decided to do both of the swaps, a square 10 cm x 10 cm card and also an A6 card. This meant coming up with two different designs and making 12/11 of each (plus a few extra for me of course). I will eventually receive 12/11 back (including one of mine) and these will be a great starting point for future cards. Although I probably won’t be able to post photos of any of the swaps I receive for a little while, I thought that I would at least show you the two designs that I came up with.

This first card uses a Basic Grey base card onto which has been matted a piece of Baja Breeze card stock. I used one of the Edgelit dies to cut on the diagonal (across a corner) a piece of Whisper White card stock. The smaller piece of Whisper White was then run through the Big Shot using my Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder. I then layered the two pieces of Whisper White on the Baja Breeze.

I stamped a couple of images from the Polar Party stamp set in Basic Grey and coloured them in using my Stampin’ Write markers and then cut them out. I added a touch of Dazzling Diamond glitter to the images before adhering them to the card with dimensionals.

The greeting also comes from the Polar Party stamp set and this too was stamped in Basic Grey  but directly onto the Baja Breeze card stock.

This second card uses a stamp from the As Lovely as a Tree stamp set. I have turned the stamp 90 degrees and just used the upper portion of the larger tree stamp to give a branch effect. The image was stamped in Lucky Limeade onto a piece of Very Vanilla card stock. Once I was happy with the positioning of the branch I punched out the ornament shape using my Ornament punch.

I stuck a piece of Riding Hood Red Designer Series Paper onto a piece of Always Artichoke so that when the stamped image was placed over the top the DSP would show through the ornament shaped hole. Before actually fixing the Very Vanilla card stock to the Always Artichoke I used my paper piercing tool and some gold coloured wire to make it look like the ornament was hanging directly from the branch. I used a Real Red brad on the branch and also some Very Vanilla Grosgrain ribbon to finish it off. You will notice that I also used some Dazzling Diamonds to highlight some of the dots on the DSP, just to give it a slightly more Christmas feel.

The Very Vanilla card stock was adhered to the Always Artichoke using dimensionals and then the whole thing was matted onto a piece of textured Lucky Limeade card stock.

I hope you like these and I will post some photos of the swaps as and when I receive them. We will be using the ornament punch and also the Polar Party stamp set in one of my Christmas Stamp-a-Stack classes. Details of these classes will be posted soon on the Events & Classes page.